


Sickeningly Cold

by Ryuko_Shepard8



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, One-Sided Attraction, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 04:34:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18328718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuko_Shepard8/pseuds/Ryuko_Shepard8
Summary: When Shepard and Garrus are trapped together in a cold cave,the must use unconventional ways to keep warm. But what are the repercussions for these ways? And what will that do to their relationship later on?





	Sickeningly Cold

“Shepard,” he began. His voice was shaking, the same as his body was, “You're an idiot.”

She nodded, “I know.”

He didn't say anything else after that. He just rubbed his hands together, trying to stop the shivers. Blowing hot breath into his gloved talons and hoping that that would provide some warmth to them, if any at all. At this point, he was willing to begin firing his gun off in this tight space, just to get it to overheat so that he may have warmth.

It was freezing cold and dark as well. She could hear the wind whistling from outside, but could not reach it. She couldn't reach much of anything. The squeeze inside of this cave was tight and she didn't wish to intrude on Garrus’ space, he was already pretty damn angry at her for getting him in this situation in the first place, so she stayed scrunched up in a corner.

“You just have to touch everything,” he spoke again after it'd been silent for a long time. He was doing this periodically throughout their long sit together.

There would be silence in which the only sounds were him trying to warm his freezing body, then he would speak up and make a smart remark at Shepard, just to remind her how angry he was. She'd reply by agreeing with what he had to say, rinse and repeat. 

They'd been doing this cycle for what felt like hours, but who knew, it could've been longer or shorter. There was not way to tell. Her omni tool worked, sort of, but it was very unreliable at the moment due to its lack of ability to get a connection on a planet in the middle of a blizzard. The only thing she could do was hope that Joker could just use other means to find them, in case her omnitool’s signal was too weak, that is, if Joker got their message at all.

She wanted to ask Garrus how his was reading, seeing as he had the far superior model, but she also wanted to give him his space. As much space as this tight cave would allow at least. Afraid that he would eventually decided upon just killing her and using her corpse for warmth, she decided to keep her distance from him. Instead, using this time to do more appropriate things.

Like occasionally pushing her armored shoulder against the rock that was holding them in this cold solitude to see if it would budge. It never did, but it was something to do other than look at each other in silence.

She couldn't bare to look at Garrus for long. Seeing him in this pain hurt her. He was freezing and it was hurting him far more than it was hurting her. It wasn't the first time one of her stupid ideas got them into trouble, but this was one of the worst. Turians hated the cold.

He told her that a million and one times, but she still made it her mission to bring him to the cold planets, just to tease him. He never complained until after the mission was over, but that didn't change that fact that he was uncomfortable. He was probably going to die from the thing that he'd warned her about over and over.

Now he was stuck in the Turian version of hell, hoping to either die if frostbite or starvation. His hopes were on the former, seeing as the cold was already getting to him, his joints we're feeling stiff as all hell, barely movable. He was already beginning to feel like a block of ice.

“It's not going to move,” he snapped, while watching another one of her feeble attempts to push the boulder away. 

She crumpled to her knees in front of the rock, pressing her palms flat against it, “God, I'm such an idiot.”

“You can say that again,” he chuckled and she looked back at him.

She was surprised to hear him laugh, even a little. If he could find humor in this moment, it meant he wasn't as angry as she thought he was. It meant that maybe they could actually talk to pass the time, instead of just waiting in the silence and the occasional smart remark.

“I'm so sorry, Garrus,” she finally apologized, feeling that this was as good a time as any to do it. She'd rather have it done now in case they were to die. She doubted that he'd want to talk to her in whatever afterlife they'd make it to.

“If we get out of here alive and with all of our limbs, I'll forgive you,” he replied. She knew what he was trying to say though, she knew it was just his way of saying: I forgive you Shepard, I'm just a little upset right now.

“I’ll make sure if it,” 

“Spirits, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to survive in here,” he rubbed his hands together once more, then blew more breath into them, “It's only been a few hours.”

“Don't say that. It'll be okay,”

He looked up at her, his face in a slight grimace, “Since when were you so optimistic?”

“Since you started talking to me again,” she admitted, and it was true. Her hopes for survival were very low before he decided to speak to her.

He merely scoffed at her and said no more. Deciding to focus on warmth, he curled up as much as his turian body would allow, especially I such a cramped space.

“Have you got the time?” She asked, wanting to continue conversation.

“My onmitool’s been acting up the entire time we've been in here. It's been giving me one time, then switching to another that's completely different,” 

“Mine too,” she admitted, “I'm just hoping Joker got my message.”

“I doubt it,”

She wanted to tell him to have hope, to be a bit more optimistic about their terrible situation, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. It was her fault they were in this situation, she had no right to tell him what to do, and yet, she wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to Nat hate her for all the wrong she did.

Jane took this time to look at him instead. He was shivering, something she didn't know turians did. His plates almost seemed to be glistening with the little bit of light that was peeking through the gaps. His eyes were closed whilst he blew more breath into his hands. His head was dipping over to the side a bit and he jumped back up, he was desperately attempting to stay awake. Something made her want to hold him, in hopes that her body would warm him.

“Garrus, are you tired?” She asked.

It took him a moment to register what she was saying, then when he did, he finally spoke,”A, a little.”

“Is it because of the cold?” 

He gave her a slow tired nod.

Slowly, she reached her hands up to undo her breast plate in her armor. She didn't know why she'd done it, it was movement done without hesitation, like her body was moving on its own. Then, her hands drifted to her leg armor, then her arm, until she was stripped of everything, but her undersuit. This undoubtedly made her even more cold, the air felt like it was hitting her naked body, despite the thin layer of fabric the covered her. 

Garrus' eyes opened his eyes hazily, looking at her once briefly before they closed, then shot open again. He let out a gasp at the sight of her.

“Spirits, Shepard!” He gasped, his voice still a hit groggy, “Are you trying to kill yourself.”

“No no, listen Garrus, I naturally produce body heat, let me warm you up,” she placed her hand against his armored chest, trying to unclasped it.

He glanced anxiously down at the hand that was fumbling with his armor then back at her, she gave him a nervous smile.

“Trust me on this,” she said.

“We'll both freeze to death,”

“No, we'll huddle together and share warmth, like penguins,”

“What the hell is a-” 

She stopped him by finally managing to unclasped his armor. She pulled the chest piece away from him and suddenly the cold air hit his chest. He held in a grimace from the pain, that was, until something warm hit it chest.

It felt nice, like the sun from home hitting his face on a hot day. It felt familiar, it felt right.

“This is better, right?” Shepard had asked, it was only then that he noticed that the warm thing against his chest was Shepard. Her body did produce heat, like she'd said, and it was better than he'd expected.

“Yes, a bit,”

“Wanna take more off or is this okay?” 

“I'll take more off,” he said, his nimble talons were already pulling off more and more armor until he sat in his undersuit. 

She was so warm against him. He had no idea humans we're this warm, he'd never even touched one without a thicker level of fabric between them. Now, he was touching Shepard, with barely anything between them, but their thin undersuits. It felt nice, comforting, something made him like it more than he should've.

His arm eventually found a resting spot against the small of her back, the other sat at his side, praying for her warmth. Her face was resting in the crook of his neck, her breath was hot against him. Each little breath out of her, tickled his neck. 

He opened his mouth to say something, to make a joke or something, but nothing came out. He was lost in the moment, words didn't feel right to say. Instead, he wished to sit here, sinking into the feeling of her, enjoying how she felt against them, warm and soft. It was perfect. He didn't want to ruin this moment.

“Are you still tired, Garrus?” She asked him?

“A bit,” 

“I'm really sorry,”

“I'm not even upset anymore,” he sighed, “Just afraid.”

“Of what?” She turned so that she could look into his eyes. A cold deep blue, making her shivering more than the air around them.

“Being trapped here forever. Dying here. Not being able to have my favorite food again,”

She rested her head against his chest, pushing herself up so she could look directly at him. Her mouth was opened to say something, but his hand on her back forced her back to him.

“Don't get up, it's freezing,”

She rested back against him, “Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,”

She opened her mouth to apologise again, then stopped herself, realizing that would only make things worse.

The cold air hit her back, normally, she would've jumped, but she was warmed quickly by him pulling her closer to his chest. His arms wrapping tightly around her back, holding her close.

“This is nice,” she sighed. And it was. Had the circumstances been better, this moment would've been touching. Garrus rarely ever touched her. It was almost like he was afraid of her fleshy human body, so their contact was limited to full armored hugs and handshakes. 

“You consider this nice?” He scoffed, “Was this your way of trying to get in my pants, Shepard?”

Jane gave him a rough open palmed smack against the chest, “Of course not!”

He laughed again, the sound of his laugh vibrating through his chest. It almost felt like a massage, mainly because he had a deep laugh that came from the back of his throat. She loved his laugh and she loved making him laugh, it made her feel like she was at home again.

“You suck, Garrus,” she teased.

“Human terminology is so strange,”

“Turians are strange,”

He scoffed at her again and things felt normal. They felt right. She found herself nuzzling deeper into his neck, trying to get warmth from him, whilst giving him warmth at the same time.

“Spirits, Shepard, calm down,”

“Am I doing something?”

“Yeah,” he pushed her back a bit, “You're rubbing on my neck like you actually want me.”

She pulled herself back, the cold air hitting her body and causing her skin to ripple with goosebumps. She folded her arms over her chest in an attempt to keep warm.

“It must be a turian thing or something,” she looked down at her feet, “I didn't know. I'm sorry.”

She could feel the tension in the air, it was thick and heavy, like they were underwater. She wanted to say something, anything, but not a word would come out. Not they were back to square one, except this time, they were even colder.

He grunted, “Shepard, if you wanted to do something like that, I wouldn't mind it.”

Her cheeks flushed, but it wasn't very obvious due to the poor lighting and cold air hitting her cheeks, but she could feel them heating up. She supposed the cold was causing him to hallucinate or he was taking pity on her for her stupidity, both worried her.

“I'm sorry?” She asked, still confused about what she'd heard.

He held his head down a bit, his mandibles fluttering. She didn't much understand turian expressions, but she recognized this as embarrassment.

“It would keep us warm, is what I mean,” he muttered.

“I guess,” she took the zipper of her undersuit and lulled it down to her belly button. The cold air hit her and caused her skin to prickle up once more.

She watched him do the same, unzipping his suit and pulling his arms out of it. His hands were around her bare waist before she even had time to think. Squeezing and groping the area. His hands had a rough feel to them, like he worked with them a lot. But they were nice They warmed her. 

Their eyes met for a brief moment, even in the darkness she could feel him looking at her and she could feel herself looking back. Her heart was beating fast, her adrenaline was pumping. Her mouth went dry and her palms started to sweat. It was only now that she realized that she was nervous, but that didn't stop her from lifting up to kiss him.

The inside of his mouths was warm, slippery. He tasted sweet, almost like a cinnamon candy. His tongue was thin and flexible, it wrapped around hers in ways that no human could ever do. When they pulled apart she felt almost lonely, she was craving his kiss.

His tongue found her neck and traced up until it reached her ear. The trail of saliva he left already felt like it was freezing, but something made her not care. He was providing enough warmth for her not to think about it, she wondered if she was doing the same for him.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to her, his hot breath fell against her breast, his mouth plates kissing and biting them. She moaned softly against this light touching arching her hips against him. He groaned when she did this, so she did it again. Over and over, until they gained some semblance of rhythm with it. Her grinding her hot womanhood against him was causing him pleasure too, she threw her head back from the sheer foreplay.

Garrus pulled the last of her under suit off. Her flesh was cold, she found herself shivering out of control. He couldn’t bare to look at her that way. Cold and shaky. He pulled her into his chest, impaling her on his hard member as he did. She released a scream that was sure to get them found. One followed by messy attempts at saying his name.

He kept with a steady pace. Holding her close and thrusting deeper and deeper into her. She felt so tight and wet. Her walls kept contracting around him. Their breathing was matched, their pants and moans seeming to happen at the same time. The sound of him slamming into her seemed to bounce off of the walls, but there were no words. 

His hands gripped her back and his thrusts into her became more powerful. He wanted to keep her warm and to pleasure her at the same time. She licked and kissed his neck, her tongue was so soft and it tasted so sweet. He pulled her into another kiss, her moans filling his mouth.

“Shepard,” he'd moaned when she squeezed down against him just the right way. He could only retaliate by forcing himself into her to the hilt. Until her body began to shake and convulse. Until her moans became deep throaty gasps and her toes would clench and unclench. She grew even tighter around him, like she was trying to squeeze everything out of him and she did.

He attempted to pull out of her before his release, but her hold on him was tight. He shot his seed deep inside of her, some of it spilling back out and dripping onto his lap. All the while she was panting and convulsing ever so often.

She felt even more tired after the encounter, but even warmer at the same time. The orgasm that ripped through her seemed to heat her body.

“We should-” she began between pants, “-do that again. At least until someone finds us.”

He wanted to tell her that he didn't want to stop. Even after they'd been found. That he wanted to continue this for forever, hopefully. That he wanted to take this liaison up to her cabin and finish her there. He wanted this to not end when their problem was over. Was she even feeling what he was feeling at this very moment.

“Garrus?” She looked up at him from her space on his lap, her chest heaving.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me,” his strong hands groped her hips once more, squishing them between his taloned fingers. If this would end when they were found, he'd have to get as much as he could out of it.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been lying around for months


End file.
